ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

"The smell of rotten is the sweet scent of life," Sanchez writes, after explaining th only light smears of gross detail e worthy work of dung beetles, fungi, bacteria, earthworms, sharks, vultures, and the teeming residents of the "Rotten Log Hotel." Young naturalists will relish the opportunity to learn about cadaverine and putrescene, along with the various processes and expediters of decomposition, and to venture into scientific frontiers with glimpses of recently discovered pollution-eating fungi and of bacteria with a taste for certain plastics. Some of her "Rot It Yourself" suggestions for general observations or activities may need more unpacking (parents will likely take a dim view of heaping garbage in the yard to make a compost pile, for instance), but she offers a lively general overview to which Ford's informal scenes of wildlife in work clothes, great whites gathering around a picnic basket, and like visual foolery add genial notes. Even readers who don't buy the claim that "decomposition can seem . . . almost magical" will come away appreciating how artfully nature moves in cycles.

Kirkus Reviews

Thankfully, most stuff rots.This colorfully illustrated effort is aimed at a grade school audience that's sure to be appreciative of an oft-stinky subject. Sanchez breaks the broad topic of decay down into a multitude of subtopics, covering dung beetles, animal scavengers, fungi, the decomposition of a log, earthworms, decomposition in the home, a comparison of natural rot vs. what doesn't happen in a landfill, and finally, human decomposition—including mummies and preserving bodies in honey or alcohol. The information is doled out in small doses, usually just a paragraph at a time, and always on brightly colored pages (a couple of which are a bit challenging to read because of insufficient contrast between text and page color). Plenty of amusing, cartoony illustrations accompany the text and enhance its accessibility. Basic instructions are included for creating a compost pile, growing red worms, and making whole wheat bread. Although the illustrations and bright pages give the book a frivolous look, the information is generally accurate and in sufficient depth for the audience. The bibliography consists almost entirely of adult reading materials, however, and there are no suggestions for further reading for young inquiring minds.Readers are likely to view their world more carefully after learning of the important role decomposition plays in the cycle of life. (Nonfiction. 8-11)

School Library Journal (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Gr 3-6 Rot in all its forms is on delightfully disgusting display in this introduction to decomposition. The text is mostly in the form of short standalone sections with intriguing titles like "How to Eat Dead Stuff" and "The Guacamole That Refused to Die." The tone is humorous and informal throughout, clearly relishing the gross-out factor of dead, moldy, or stinky things. Whimsical cartoon illustrations add to the silliness and make no attempt at scientific accuracy. Full-bleed illustrations and spot art depict such things as bespectacled worms grooving to a concert, a beetle cooking up a pot of dung, and a fly tucking its larvae under a blanket. A small number of activities are included (not to mention a faux scratch-and-sniff panel that makes a point about aerobic decomposition). VERDICT Fun for pleasure reading and factual enough to satisfy science teachers, this title is recommended for anywhere young people take an interest in nature, compost, rot, and renewal. Sarah Stone, San Francisco Public Library